Joe Biden's Foreign Policy priorities
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. announced in his inaugural address that he would work to make America ‘the leading force for good in the world again’. This conveys his attempt to belittle his predecessor, Donald Trump. The disastrous policy Trump launched with regards to environmental regulations, foreign policy vis-à-vis allies around the world be it in Western Europe, Middle East, or South East Asia. On 5 February 2021 President Biden declared that America will be ending its support for Saudi Arabia’s military operations in war torn Yemen and there would be an increase concerning the intake of refugees. The decision to withdraw troops from Germany announced by the Trump administration in July 2020 will be suspended.
Diplomacy at the cornerstone of foreign policy:
He also said that diplomacy would be at the centre of his foreign policy which implies that America would not only standby its allies, but it would also engage with its adversaries. The focus would be on multilateral diplomacy which suggests that the white house would be more active in world affairs as compared to the past 4 years where we could see US turning isolationist under President Trump.
Biden also highlighted the fact that the domestic as well as the foreign policy would be deeply connected as he claimed that “there is no longer a bright line between foreign and domestic policy. Every action we take in our conduct abroad, we must take with American working families in mind”.
America would engage meaningfully with its adversaries for instance Biden told President Putin that US would no longer tolerate Russia’s interference as far as cyberattacks and intrusion in the US election is concerned. On the other hand, he also stressed on his willingness to work together on issues of mutual interests such as managing nuclear weapons. Similarly, in the case of China he vowed to oppose Beijing’s attack “on human rights, intellectual property and global governance” but he also said that US would collaborate when it is in America’s interest to do so. Biden has evidently communicated that he will not shy away from taking harsh actions when it harms America but he would also be willing to collaborate on areas of mutual interest with adversaries.
Top priorities:
1. Ending Coronavirus Pandemic: The immediate goal is to end the covid-19 pandemic and for this, the US administration has contracted to purchase about 1.2 billion vaccine doses. 100 million doses from Johnson & Johnson, 300 million doses from Pfizer, 300 million doses from Moderna, 300 million doses from AstraZeneca, 100 million doses from Novovax and lastly 100 million from Sanofi. We can see that the number of vaccines would be a lot more than the US population and President Biden declared on 10th March that they would be sharing the excess supply of vaccines with rest of the world after ensuring that Americans are taken care off.
2. Reviving the ailing economy: A $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package has been set forth by the administration to fight the ill effects of the pandemic on the economy. It includes $1 trillion in direct aid for individuals as well as families and $440 billion to aide businesses in reaching pre-pandemic levels. Direct aid includes $1400 in the form of stimulus checks and along with it, $400 will be given weekly as unemployment assistance. Last but not the least, the federal minimum wage has been hiked to $15 per hour.
3. Renewing Democracy: The idea is to restore trust in the electoral system at home which is a pre-requisite to collaborating re-establish democracies around the world. Building trust in the government at home has brought President Biden to issue a flurry of executive orders such as directing federal agencies to expand access to voter registration, increasing federal employee’s access to voting, examining barriers to voting for people with disabilities, enhancing the access to vote for active military personnel as well as overseas voters. Internationally the President plans to host a “Summit for Democracy” which would enable democracies world over to come together and forge a common agenda.
4. Reforming the immigration system: It has involved reversing the ban on legal immigration implemented by the previous administration. Reopening America to people who seek green cards and launching “US citizenship act of 2021” which will provide an 8-year pathway towards citizenship. If the act becomes a law, then it will allow 11 million undocumented individuals to become American citizens. Also, in February executive orders were signed to reunite the immigrant families which were separated at the border. Review the immigration policies with regards to essential workers, Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status recipients.
5. Rebuilding Alliances: President Biden in a speech to the State Department officials reiterated his stance on engaging with the world once again, complete shift from Donald Trump’s presidency wherein the focus was on America first. On rebuilding alliances, he said “we will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to meet yesterday’s challenges, but todays and tomorrow’s”. With regards to Europe, Biden suspended the order to withdraw troops from Germany early on, which would have significantly impacted NATO’s capabilities. On 15 March 2021, Biden sent his two most senior envoys to Japan and South Korea namely Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, with the twin goal of rebuilding trust and assembling a united front against the red dragon.
6. Tackling Climate Change: On the first day of his presidency, Joe Biden passed an executive order to re-join the Paris agreement which is designed to limit carbon emissions released in the air and to push countries to adopt renewable sources of energy. Policies are being designed to enable the electric grid to be carbon neutral by 2035 and for the US economy to get rid of carbon by 2050. In addition, climate centric cabinet members have been appointed at the national level for instance Gina McCarthy, Jennifer Granholm, Brenda Mallory, Ali Zaidi have been known to take climate change seriously and will be taking steps domestically to combat it. Finally, the post of Presidential climate envoy has been created for the very first time and it will be headed by Paris agreement pioneer, John Kerry.
7. Securing US leadership in technology: Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency and General Services Administration’s funding is being enhanced as $9 billion is to be injected to shore up cybersecurity capabilities. The plan has been launched in the light of Sunburst breach program. It is a cyber espionage campaign which has impacted multiple federal agencies as well as tech companies. $300 million is being proposed to build novel technology programmes, $200 million for technology and engineering expertise as well as $690 million for security monitoring and incident response. The efforts made conveys that the new President is keen on protecting America from cyber threats and in ensuring technology leadership.
8. Confronting China: Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a speech to the state department said that “China is the only country with economic, diplomatic, military and technology power to seriously challenge the stable and open international system”. Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin are heading to Japan and South Korea, two neighbours who have been at the receiving end of China’s aggression in the South China sea. Also, QUAD held its first ever leader-level summit on 12 March 2021 and a joint statement was released soon after titled “the spirit of the quad” where the 4 countries reaffirmed their commitment to free and open Indo-Pacific. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi and State Councillor Wang Yi on 18 March where the Americans confronted the dragon to abide by international rules and norms.
Conclusion:
President Joe Biden had announced diplomacy would be at the forefront of his foreign policy. His immediate priority is to end the Covid-19 pandemic which has killed more Americans than the first world war, second world war and the Vietnam war combined in a single year. The 8 priorities mentioned above range from the immediate issues such as ending the coronavirus pandemic, reviving the American economy to larger challenges such as tackling climate change, rebuilding alliances. Lastly, twin challenges of securing leadership in technology to protect the international system from China which wants to shape the world in its own eyes.
End Notes
3)https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53589245
10)https://www.justsecurity.org/74259/on-bidens-planned-summit-humility-not-hubris-can-save-democracy/
13)https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252494895/US-cyber-security-agencies-get-9bn-in-Biden-plan
14)https://www.voanews.com/usa/china-worlds-greatest-geopolitical-test-blinken-says
15)https://www.voanews.com/usa/china-north-korea-loom-blinken-austin-head-asia
18)https://www.voanews.com/usa/top-us-chinese-diplomats-clash-publicly-first-talks-biden-presidency
Pic Courtesy-whitehouse.gov
(The views expressed are those of the author and does not represent the views of CESCUBE.)
